Two Feet in the Dirt

With mid-September upon us, we’re moving into more and more cool season veggies, even as the weather this week seems to want to jump back to more summer-like temperatures and humidity! On the farm, we’ve tilled under the majority of this year’s cucumber and zucchini and replanted the beds in an oat/pea cover crop. While some of the cover crops we use can grow through the winter, oats and peas are sensitive to cold temperatures and will eventually die and form a protective mulch on the bed through the winter months. Therefore, it is ideal to get this cover crop seeded on the early side so that the plants can grow large enough to produce an effective mulch.

Other signs of fall are obvious on the farm as well. We’re in the middle of digging out the final beds of potatoes and are working our way through the remaining fall carrot beds. The black walnut trees, always the first to lose their leaves, are dropping both leaves and nuts all over our yard, punctuating the work day with the occasional jarring noise of a giant walnut hitting the roof! The final transplants of the year are getting planted this and next week and, over the next few weeks, planting will move from outdoor beds to those in the hoop house, which are able to continue producing for longer due to the protection and increased warmth.

The best thing about this time of year is that, with the overlap of the summer and fall crops, now is when we have the biggest variety of produce available. Below is this week’s harvest list. We’ll see you at the markets!

Farmers Katie & Mike

Harvest List:

• Lettuce salad mix
• Arugula
• Slicing tomatoes
• Cherry tomatoes
• Rainbow chard
• Cucumbers
• Potatoes
• Carrots
• Eggplant
• Garlic
• Okra
• Kale
• Collard greens
• Beets
• Kohlrabi
• Radishes
• Escarole
• Scallions
• Peppers
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